What you see as minor issues may be deal breakers to another teacher. Yeah those things you said are bad, but there are other things you didnt say that are also bad from a teachers point of view.
How do you know teachers have less then 5 years experience and some of it ESL, that seems an unusual piece of information for someone who wasnt an admin to know?
Many ITs would say a wholly local student body while not bad certainly takes a lot of the "international" out of international school. Even if not bad they do have a tendency to be lower performing students (looking to escape the public schools, but cant afford a real international school), they also tend to have very local/native run management styles, and tend to be for profit. Both factors tend to be warning signs to international teachers.
Lastly, you write "what I see on the site....it seems that they are going in the right direction.", you should now that a schools website is basically nothing more then advertising, its the schools digital marketing brochure or sales flyer.
American School Vietnam
Positives to TAS
I see what you are saying but I think that teaching a mostly local population of students can be rewarding and insightful and really give you more of a feel of the country and culture. Of course web sites are adverts BUT you can get a feel and some instinctual info from sites. What they don't share or say sometimes is more telling. The site shows the teachers and their backgrounds. I think this is nice in a way that they are open. Some sites don't tell you any teacher names or info at all.
I've taught at diverse international schools that are not for profit and they too can share many of the same "growing pains" as the other types of schools. I've worked in high turnover schools and low turnover schools and neither was perfect and both had wonderful assets. I think it is important to find out about the school culture and morale and also to avoid gossip and negative complaints if possible. Building a profesional relationship with the students and really being dedicated to teaching and also enjoying the culture makes a big difference. Every school has the potential to do better. Change in heads in a new school isn't necessarily bad. As long as one can teach and have a blast with the kids and avoid too many problems and hope that the school is above board for the most part....it could be a growing and rewarding opportunity.
I've taught at diverse international schools that are not for profit and they too can share many of the same "growing pains" as the other types of schools. I've worked in high turnover schools and low turnover schools and neither was perfect and both had wonderful assets. I think it is important to find out about the school culture and morale and also to avoid gossip and negative complaints if possible. Building a profesional relationship with the students and really being dedicated to teaching and also enjoying the culture makes a big difference. Every school has the potential to do better. Change in heads in a new school isn't necessarily bad. As long as one can teach and have a blast with the kids and avoid too many problems and hope that the school is above board for the most part....it could be a growing and rewarding opportunity.
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overseasvet2
- Posts: 191
- Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:50 pm
web site posting
Just a quick comment on the posting of teacher names and info on websites. Lulu, you seem to interpret that as a sign a school is "open" . Depending on the location of the school, it may just be a sign of good security. Lots of schools post all of this on the intranet; school community members need to sign in to access it. Just another perspective.
coins
yes,
I know where you are coming from. I have thought that too. Of course, there is always another side to a coin. In the US a lot of schools post teacher info and school email contacts on the school site. Many also publish the board minutes in PDF form on line when you are hired. There are pros and cons to sharing this info with the school community and internet. I suppose if you were being stalked you wouldn't want just anyone to know where you worked. etc. In Asia I think some schools do it to be more competitive. I know of schools that like to hire only Ivy league grads because some Asians really like that brand name, even if it is a new teacher they would rather have someone from Harvard or Yale than an experienced teacher from a state university. Sometimes it is the culture. If you are in a dangerous country you might not want your picture and name up on an international or US school web-site maybe.
I know where you are coming from. I have thought that too. Of course, there is always another side to a coin. In the US a lot of schools post teacher info and school email contacts on the school site. Many also publish the board minutes in PDF form on line when you are hired. There are pros and cons to sharing this info with the school community and internet. I suppose if you were being stalked you wouldn't want just anyone to know where you worked. etc. In Asia I think some schools do it to be more competitive. I know of schools that like to hire only Ivy league grads because some Asians really like that brand name, even if it is a new teacher they would rather have someone from Harvard or Yale than an experienced teacher from a state university. Sometimes it is the culture. If you are in a dangerous country you might not want your picture and name up on an international or US school web-site maybe.
@lulu
Any school "can" be rewarding, and any group of students, local, international etc. "can" be rewarding and insightful. That doesnt invalidate the demographics that local school populations tend to be under performing and have narrower world views then those at the real international schools. It also doesnt change the role and makeup of admins (and their management style) in those schools.
The feel you are getting from a schools website is the feel they WANT you to get, thats how advertising/marketing works. Its persuasive communication under the illusion of being informative.
What you describe as "open" about their staff and teachers is also just marketing. As far as background go they only describe the most basics, such as: where a teacher is from, what school they went to and degree. Personally i think its bad security, and many teachers that have a public email address link, spend a lot of time sorting through spam email because of it.
All schools when they are starting out have issues, thats normal. I havent seem a perfect school, and Ive seena lot of schools. As far as negative complaints, I think complaining is important when there is a problem, thats how problems get resolved. A school that has a lot of gossip, is a school that punishes people who complain. Teachers wouldnt have to gossip, if they had an avenue of recourse and communication to address and resolve their problems.
Im sorry some schools just cant do better, its nice to think that resources can be added, and all kinds of other things, but for a variety of reasons a lot of schools are just doing the best with what they have, and they arent likely to "make the pie bigger".
"Hoping" the school is above board seldom makes it so. In my experience "hope" is a poor regulator of professional behavior.
A change in heads isnt always bad, but without knowing the underlying causes and reasons, it could be a bad change and it could be good change.
"Building a professional relationship with the students and really being dedicated to teaching and also enjoying the culture makes a big difference. As long as one can teach and have a blast with the kids and avoid too many problems"
That sounds really nice, but doesnt mean very much. A teacher doesnt have to be dedicated, they just have to perform well. enjoying the culture is nice, but doesnt mean someone is a good teacher (id argue that enjoying the culture "too much" actually causes a lot of problems). Avoiding problems doesnt make the problems go away, facing them and then finding solutions is FAR better an approach. Having a blast with the kids... Completely optional, and while making learning fun is great making it too fun can detract from the rigor, and objectivity a teacher has. Teachers who are too friendly with their students seem to have more problems at some point.
Any school "can" be rewarding, and any group of students, local, international etc. "can" be rewarding and insightful. That doesnt invalidate the demographics that local school populations tend to be under performing and have narrower world views then those at the real international schools. It also doesnt change the role and makeup of admins (and their management style) in those schools.
The feel you are getting from a schools website is the feel they WANT you to get, thats how advertising/marketing works. Its persuasive communication under the illusion of being informative.
What you describe as "open" about their staff and teachers is also just marketing. As far as background go they only describe the most basics, such as: where a teacher is from, what school they went to and degree. Personally i think its bad security, and many teachers that have a public email address link, spend a lot of time sorting through spam email because of it.
All schools when they are starting out have issues, thats normal. I havent seem a perfect school, and Ive seena lot of schools. As far as negative complaints, I think complaining is important when there is a problem, thats how problems get resolved. A school that has a lot of gossip, is a school that punishes people who complain. Teachers wouldnt have to gossip, if they had an avenue of recourse and communication to address and resolve their problems.
Im sorry some schools just cant do better, its nice to think that resources can be added, and all kinds of other things, but for a variety of reasons a lot of schools are just doing the best with what they have, and they arent likely to "make the pie bigger".
"Hoping" the school is above board seldom makes it so. In my experience "hope" is a poor regulator of professional behavior.
A change in heads isnt always bad, but without knowing the underlying causes and reasons, it could be a bad change and it could be good change.
"Building a professional relationship with the students and really being dedicated to teaching and also enjoying the culture makes a big difference. As long as one can teach and have a blast with the kids and avoid too many problems"
That sounds really nice, but doesnt mean very much. A teacher doesnt have to be dedicated, they just have to perform well. enjoying the culture is nice, but doesnt mean someone is a good teacher (id argue that enjoying the culture "too much" actually causes a lot of problems). Avoiding problems doesnt make the problems go away, facing them and then finding solutions is FAR better an approach. Having a blast with the kids... Completely optional, and while making learning fun is great making it too fun can detract from the rigor, and objectivity a teacher has. Teachers who are too friendly with their students seem to have more problems at some point.